Tax in UAE: Online Portal for VAT & Excise Tax Registration is Open Now

The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has opened the registration portal for both Excise Tax and Value-Added Tax (VAT) in UAE. This allows all businesses that deal with excise goods to register for Excise Tax and for VAT as well that will commence on 1 January 2018, at 5% rate. Prior to and after this, several Cabinet Decisions have been released in regards to the excise and VAT implementation in UAE. The first one, the Cabinet Decision No. 37 of 2017 on the Executive Regulation of the Federal Decree-Law No. 7 of 2017 on Excise Tax talks about who is liable to pay tax when the latter is not settled. The second is the Cabinet Decision No. 38 of 2017 on Excise Goods, Excise Tax Rates, and the Method of Calculating the Excise Price, which shows the agreed rates and goes into the price specifics. The next is the Cabinet Decision No. 39 of 2017 on Fees for Services provided by the Federal Tax Authority that establishes the fees for the services of FTA for the clients that will be collected. The last one is the Cabinet Resolution No. 40 of 2017 on Administrative Penalties for Violations of Tax Laws in the UAE that is for all violations of Federal Law No. 7 of 2017 on Tax Procedures, Federal Decree-Law No. 7 of 2017 on Excise Tax, and Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 on VAT.

Do I need to register for VAT or Excise tax in UAE?

If you are running a business in Dubai or any emirate of UAE, you need to register for VAT & Excise tax if: a) For the Federal Excise Tax, every single business in the UAE that produces, imports or stockpiles excise goods, or intends to do so, is necessary to register. The current excise goods with tax rates are the following: i) Tobacco and tobacco products and energy drinks (100%) ii) Carbonated drinks (50%).

b) For VAT, the registration is for all firms in UAE that fall under the minimum annual income of AED 375,000. If they don’t meet the minimum annual income, a business can still choose to register for VAT if they go beyond the voluntary base that is AED 187,500. On the other hand, if the minimum amount for the voluntary registration is surpassed by a business’ expenses, they can register voluntarily as well. Start-up companies (without turnovers) are encouraged in this kind of opportunity.

As mentioned above, different documents are required for different entities. Some other documents not listed may be needed. You will be requested to upload the copies of these documents. The accepted file types are PDF, JPG, PNG, and JPEG. The file size limit is 2 MB each.

FAR – Farhat & Co. can help if you have any concerns about the Excise Tax and VAT preparation, accounting and registration in UAE. As we are one of the tax consultants in UAE that has more than 30 years of experience in different industries, we can conduct a consultation with you and cater to your needs. Click here for free VAT assessment for business in UAE.